For Industry
Annually, Peterborough & the Kawarthas welcomes over 3 million visitors who spend more than $300 million in the local economy, accounting for approximately 58% of total spending in the RTO8 region.
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism (PKT) is the Official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for the City of Peterborough and the County of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Peterborough & the Kawarthas is part of Regional Tourism Organization 8 (RTO8), one of 13 RTOs in the Province.
Tourism is integral to economic development and a critical driver in achieving broader economic development goals.
PKT actively works with local, regional, provincial, and national industry partners to create destination development strategies and strategic plans to achieve growth and prosperity for the businesses. PKT has a team of ‘destination developers’ that act as catalysts and facilitators for the realization of a prosperous visitor economy. We also work closely with advocacy partners like the local Chambers of Commerce, the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) and Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) to ensure current or emerging challenges, barriers and opportunities affecting local businesses are elevated.
Goals
- Strengthen the local economy and enrich the quality of life for residents by supporting businesses reliant on the visitor economy.
- Actively market Peterborough & the Kawarthas as a destination for increased visitation and spending.
Responsibilities
- Attracting visitors to the region.
- Providing industry-specific knowledge to tourism businesses
- Supporting the sustainable growth and expansion of tourism businesses
- Assisting with sustainable experiential product development
- Providing industry-specific data and research
- Providing exceptional visitor services year-round.
Status Update for Registered Tourism Businesses
Last Updated: October 15th, 2024.
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development and Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism will cease operations as of December 31st, 2024 as the City of Peterborough and Peterborough County prepare to assume full responsibility for economic development and tourism in 2025.
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism is undertaking a number of important steps to support this transition:
- The Peterborough & the Kawarthas Visitor Centre located at 270 George Street North in Downtown Peterborough will permanently close at 4:00pm on November 29th, and all PKT delivered in-person visitor services will cease at this time.
- Virtual visitor services by phone and email will continue to be available during business hours based on staff availability until 12:00pm on December 24th.
- Registered tourism businesses who have materials displayed in the Visitor Centre are encouraged to visit the centre Tuesday through Friday between 9am and 4pm from October 15th to November 29th to pick up items.
- This website (www.thekawarthas.ca) will be taken over by Peterborough County in November 2024.
- The Peterborough & the Kawarthas Business Advisory Centre (BAC), also known as the Small Business Enterprise Centre is now being operated by Community Futures Peterborough. All small business support inquiries can be sent to the Business Advisory Centre team.
For inquiries related to tourism and visitor services in 2025, please contact:
Peterborough County: Please visit www.ptbocounty.ca/ecdevtourism or contact Tracie Bertrand, General Manager, Tourism and Communications at 1-800-710-9586 ext. 2502
City of Peterborough: Please visit https://peterborough.ca/en/explore-and-play/explore-and-play.aspx or call 1-800-855-3755
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Culinary Tourism Strategy
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada partnered with the Culinary Tourism Alliance to develop a national culinary tourism strategy. Peterborough & the Kawarthas was selected as one of four destinations in Canada to take part in a culinary tourism strategy development pilot.
The PKT Culinary Tourism Strategy is in alignment with several initiatives undertaken by PKED over the past 5 years related to the local tourism and agriculture industries.
Elevating Canada Experiences Tourism Resource Hub
Explore content ranging from strategy development to practical tools and tips – all designed to help grow and adapt your tourism business as an operator and build tourism capacity in your region as a destination partner.
Winter and Shoulder Season Development
Use this industry-expert developed toolkit to help you imagine new possibilities for your tourism experience. Re-envision how you can uncover the untapped possibilities of broadening the shoulders of your tourism season with valuable insights, worksheets, tips and strategies.
Growing Agritourism
The webinar will also teach you how to characterize the agritourist and generalize the types of activities associated with agritourism; understand the challenges and opportunities relating to the development of agritourism experiences and more.
Multisensory Experience Development
The webinar teaches you how to recognize opportunities to develop new culinary tourism experiences – or enhance existing experiences – through food & drink; identify changes and improvements needed to meet multisensory experience standards and more.
Partnering for Success
This webinar teaches you why partnerships are particularly important to culinary tourism; describes the elements that make up a strong culinary tourism partnership, with reference to specific examples; recognize challenges and more.
Exceeding Expectations
This webinar will provide you with tactics needed to exceed visitor expectations of your culinary tourism offerings and apply your understanding of visitor expectations and relevant tourism trends to deliver value through food & drink and more.
Enhancing Winter & Shoulder Season Tourism in Canada
This webinar teaches you about winter and shoulder season tourism in Canada, while also highlighting the opportunities and strategies to consider for your own business or region.
Regional Tourism Organization (RTO8) – Kawarthas Northumberland Resources
RTO8 exists to support a competitive and sustainable regional tourism industry, attract visitors, generate economic activity and create jobs. We work with industry partners to build up the Kawarthas Northumberland region through experience development, investment, marketing, and workforce development.
Acceler8 – a community based Business Mentoring Program geared to existing tourism sector businesses within the Kawarthas Northumberland region. The tourism industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic and as we focus on recovery, we believe a mentoring program can help your business rebuild and achieve business growth.
Tourism Connects – self-paced e-courses you can complete on your own time, on any electronic device. Courses range in length from 15 minutes to 2 hours and include helpful downloadable resources.
Let’s Talk Tourism Digital Marketing Video Series – focuses on digital marketing, understanding your audience and telling your brand story.
Tourism Awards and Recognition
Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism won the Sustainable DMO Award at the 2022 Ontario Tourism Resiliency Awards, presented by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario for the O’de Piitaanemaan Pledge.
